Prop. 14’s passage replenishes California stem cell agency’s coffers with $5.5B

San Diego biotech leaders say the measure, which narrowly passed, will aid in developing stem cell treatments for a wide array of diseases

By Jonathan WosenBiotech reporter

Nov. 28, 2020 5 AM PT

San Diego’s fast-growing biotech industry just got another boost after California voters narrowly passed Proposition 14, a measure authorizing $5.5 billion for stem cell research.

Those funds will go to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which awards grants to companies and academic institutes conducting stem cell research. Existing funding, which has supported the search for treatments for various cancers, diabetes, heart disease and other conditions ran out about a year ago.

“It’s a real opportunity to get help that we desperately all need to further these (research) programs,” said Brian Culley, CEO of Carlsbad biotech Lineage Cell Therapeutics. “It’s a huge win for the field of cell therapy, and I’m very excited.”

It was a nail-biter of a decision.

About 51 percent of voters were in favor of the proposition, and 49 percent against. The tally was so close that The Associated Press couldn’t call the result until Nov. 12, more than a week after the election.

By comparison, 59 percent of voters approved Proposition 71 in 2004, which earmarked $3 billion for stem cell research in response to then-President George W. Bush’s 2001 ban on federal funding for research using newly created human embryonic stem cell lines.

These cells have the seemingly miraculous ability to become any type of cell — from the cells that keep your heart thumping to the neurons that keep your brain crackling with electric activity. That wondrous property makes stem cells a potential treatment for a wide array of diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, heart disease and even COVID-19.

But critics claimed that embryonic stem cell lines, which use extra embryos created during in vitro fertilization, were made by destroying life.

Californians decided to continue funding the research themselves. Prop. 71’s strong ad campaign, which played up the dazzling potential of stem cells, featured top scientists and public figures — including actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s disease.

About $500 million went toward building 12 major stem cell institutes throughout the state. One of them is La Jolla’s Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, which brings together scientists from five of San Diego’s top life science institutes: UC San Diego, Scripps Research, Salk Institute, La Jolla Immunology and Sanford Burnham Prebys.

Another $1.6 billion from CIRM has funded basic research and clinical trials. ViaCyte, a local biotech, has received more than $72 million for work toward what it calls a “functional cure” for type 1 diabetes, a disease in which the immune system wipes out the cells that make insulin. The company’s goal is to use stem cells to replenish insulin-producing cells, and it has clinical trials testing its approach in progress.

CIRM funds have supported 64 clinical trials in total, including a stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury developed by Bay Area biotech Geron.

For San Ramon resident Jake Javier, the trial was likely life changing.

In 2016, Javier broke his neck after diving into a swimming pool at a friend’s house. That left the high school football star, who’d hoped to compete at the college level, paralyzed from the neck down. Javier had spent a week in the intensive care unit when a doctor told him about a trial testing a stem cell-based spinal injury treatment.

Javier had no idea what stem cells were; they sounded like science fiction to him. But he decided to give the treatment a shot, agreeing to have millions of cells injected into his spinal cord in the hope they would help repair some of his damaged nerves.

A full recovery was out of the question; Javier’s spine had been badly crushed. But over time, he was able to clothe himself and get in and out of bed without help. He can now move his shoulders and arms, though not his legs or hands (except one finger). And he can drive a specially equipped car, too.

“The hope with the trial would be that I’d be able to live out my life in a more functional, normal manner, become more independent,” said Javier, who is now a senior at California Polytechnic State University. “With the help of stem cells, I’ve been able to do that.”

Yet the near 50-50 split on Prop. 14 reflects a sense that the previous round of stem cell funding never quite lived up to expectations, especially given the measure’s expense. Prop. 71’s full cost, including interest on bond payments, will be about $6 billion, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Prop. 14 will cost $7.8 billion.

“That’s a price Californians simply can’t afford,” wrote Jeff Sheehy, who until recently served on CIRM’s governing board, in an op-ed that ran in the Union-Tribune.

He also argues it’s a price the state no longer needs: In 2009, President Obama lifted the federal government’s restrictions on funding embryonic stem cell research.

Sheehy was the only CIRM board member to oppose the measure. His stance has drawn sharp criticism from other board members, including Joe Panetta, president and CEO of Biocom, a San Diego-based life science trade group that represents more than 1,300 California life science companies.

“Jeff missed the point; this was not a money-making proposition,” said Panetta. “It was an investment in the health of future Californians.”

That investment, Panetta says, has made California a premier destination for stem cell researchers. And it’s positioned scientists in the Golden State to lead the search for new treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy and other brain and nerve-related diseases. More than a quarter of Prop. 14 funding ($1.5 billion) will go toward research for these conditions.

“It means, to me, more than anything else, the opportunity, ability, and the challenge of creating cures for some of the most terrible diseases for people here in California and around the world,” said Panetta of the renewed funding. “Why would you not want to do that?”

California stem cell researchers will be able to apply for CIRM grants in 2021.